Main menu

Tag Archives: articles

Why is it hard to write if you’re an academic? Or anyone, really. (I mean, look at all the languishing blogs with good intentions out there!) Rachel Toor writes in the The Chronicle about what she describes as “procrastination productivity”:

I tackle the things I think I can handle, do them, get a vague sense of accomplishment, and then go back to feeling crappy about what I’m not doing. I have a hunch I’m not alone in that. I have a hunch, based purely on anecdotal evidence, that I am not the only one in academe who suffers from procrastination productivity.

It’s not as if the things I’m accomplishing aren’t worthy and important. They’re fine. They’re good. But they’re not what I think I’m supposed to be doing. Likewise, some of my friends, when they have books due, become master gardeners. Or knit complicated sweaters. I have been the recipient of many extravagant meals because someone didn’t want to work on an article. There have been houses built in place of manuscript pages.

For example, I like my blog despite the dearth of posts. Despite trying the “postaweek” idea, I don’t get around to it much. The good part is that I have published an article and a review this year, and another article will be submitted by the weekend. So things are happening, but . . . there are always these things to do that amount to “vacuuming instead of cleaning the toilet.”

Just a quick note: I’m publishing an article on the cimbál (cimbalom) and its history and performance practice in Moravia. It will come out in the 2010 volume of the Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society!